Published: August 11, 2009
In photos: Busy summer of activities at Highbridge Dreamscheme

Members of Highbridge Dreamscheme have been busy over the last two weeks, earning lots of points for some free trips at the end of the summer holidays.

On Tuesday July 28th, the youths' first work task was to design a logo for the Highbridge Dreamscheme to print on T-Shirts and use for letter heads and press releases.

A total of 54 young people attended and put their creativity to good use by coming up with some fantastic illustrations which resulted in two winners, Lucas and Shane, having their designs amalgamated into one.

These have been sent to Bespoke Manufacturing for printing onto T-Shirts for the group to wear at future activities.

As a reward for previous sessions, 33 young people boarded a coach to Bath Park on July 30th, where they spent four hours exhausting their energy, wearing out both themselves and the leaders!

"The facilities in the park are brilliant and gave the youths lots to do - they even found themselves a make-shift water slide, sliding into a huge puddle and getting themselves muddy and very wet!"

"Once again behaviour was fantastic and the group did the Highbridge Dreamscheme proud. We must also thank Bakers Dolphin in Weston for providing discounted Coach Hire," PCSO Claire Chambers told Burnham-On -Sea.com.

Apex Park hosted its annual 'Play Day' on August 5th when 11 young volunteers went along and earned points by doing fundraising work for both the Highbridge Dreamscheme and the Highbridge Community Youth Club.

Around £130 was raised on both a Tombola and the ‘Peg Pickers’ game, which involved seeing how many clothes pegs a person could take and hold from a washing line using just one hand.

Brean Leisure Park kindly donated a family pass for the winner, who got an incredible 22 pegs off the line! Crime Reduction and Road Safety leaflets were also handed out to passers by.

A big litter pick was organised for August 6th and 50 young volunteers cleared up various areas of Highbridge, including Apex Park, Southwell Park, Smith Way and Highbridge Quay.

"Around 20 bags of rubbish was cleared and the group remained enthusiastic throughout the day, despite the rain for the last two hours. Their hard work and enthusiasm really is inspiring and we are still getting new members joining after seeing the benefits of the scheme," added Claire.

The Highbridge Dreamscheme is also celebrating after being given another £1,500 this summer by the Safer Somerset West Partnership, who have been impressed by the commitment of the young people since the scheme started in January.

Jane Bailey, Project Officer for the Partnership, added: “The Safer Somerset West Partnership is always keen to support community initiatives, particularly those that enable young people to get involved with their local area and further their skills."

"Following the success of the Highbridge Dreamscheme in the last 6 months we are very pleased to support further good work into next year."

Highbridge's Dreamscheme was set up by the Children and Young Persons Sub-Committee of the Local Action Team for Highbridge, alongside Highbridge Police.

It involves young people aged 8-16 taking part in community work, such as litter picks, in return for points that can be used towards day trips and other activities. If you are interested in joining, see the official website here.